Broadford (Endhaven Supplement)

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The Barony Broadford is a recently resettled land. In the past, it was the home of several civilizations. Inhabitants fled this fertile and temperate valley seeking safer refuges, leaving it to decay back into a wilderness.

Broadford is dotted with many villages. Most of these are assemblages of houses surrounded by palisades. The palisades provide basic protection from attack, but are no significant obstacle to a well organized opponent. In addition to villages, many native tribes live in and around the area.

The main town of this area is called Forsythia. This is a frontier town, with wooden palisades for walls, hostile environs nearby, and a can-do attitude towards settlement. Broadford is part of the Border League.

A major industry is iron smelting. The Ironmonger dwarven clan operate the Bent Rock Forge where many men are employed in the mining and smelting of iron.

Before the great empires, Broadford was the Kingdom of Knessex, whose capital was Laggan. The kingdom was substantial, occupying this entire valley. This kingdom was rich enough to afford a gate from the far away kingdom of Aq. In time, the kings of Knessex turned towards evil.

Broadford was a major battlefield during the Crusade of Light. The forces fought a major engagement here, razing Laggan. The battle was so terrible that the land was laid barren. The Dead General was sealed beneath Laggan Keep, and the Relentless Legion buried around it. In time, this area became the Haunted Forest.

THE EMPIRES

Knessex was eventually subsumed by the Thule Empire, and from there passed to the Griffon Empire. They named the valley Dunkeld. The area's population rebounded, and several imperial highways were built through the area. One was a the great East-West highway, while the other was built later to connect to the new capital of Ferra Nea.

The people built a Transgressor temple at the most auspicious place in the valley, just inside the Haunted Forest. In time, these Transgressor drifted towards dark ways.

WARS OF LAW AND CHAOS

War eventually came to this valley. The Transgressor temple was razed by an Axiomite army moving on Fort Resolute. The remaining inhabitants fled. Once again, the valley decayed into a wilderness.

RECENT EVENTS

In recent years, the valley has been resettled by the Border League. Overstretched financially, the Border League paid mercenary companies in land, and these companies resettled many uninhabited areas. These companies were granted their lands on the requirement that they settle and control their lands; that they would restore their section of the Imperial Highway to working order; that they contribute troops to League compaigns, and that they could provide troops to defend the capital, Fort Resolute.

"Broadford Company" (a regiment) gave their name to Broadford, and the Captain Major named the town after his wife. They established a stockade near the Moon river, started repairing the old highway, and set to settling this wild land. They did well for twenty years, until events overwhelmed them.

Broadford was used as a staging area for the assault on Ferra Nea and the Feral Nation. That campaign came to a bad end. They lost many veterans. Broadford feels that they will be the target of a retaliatory campaign.

Recently, a group of bandits moved into the highway. Seeking to remove these bandits, the Baron set out with two companies to flush them out. His commanders included the sheriff and the captain of the militia. They marched up the highway into a brilliantly executed ambush and suffered a decisive defeat, including the loss of all top officers.

In this time of crisis, with its military command broken, the territory looked to the Baroness to lead them. Dubbed "the Missus", this woman saw more campaigning than most mercenaries saw in their career. Indeed, the wagon train that she once commanded (composed mostly of women and crippled soldier) successfully repelled enemy attacks on multiple occasions. This is a woman who worked her way up from a washerwoman. Taking up responsibility, the Missus hired Sir Tennet as the new militia captain. She also recruited the Stonebrother dwarves as captains. The mayor also appointed Hannatha, the scout captain, as the new sheriff.

The town finds itself until a complex series of pressures. With knowledge of their defeat spreading, the territory must use its forces to guard against the humanoid incursions that are now prevalent. They must focus on drilling their regiment for the feared attack by the Feral Nation. This leaves the territory unable to handle the bandits, who have the road closed. Meanwhile, they need to retrain and rearm their companies quickly, but this requires shipping in equipment via the roads, which are blocked by bandits. In a few more months, they also owe two companies to the protection of Fort Resolute.

Broadford's neighbors are aware of this crisis, especially the Witch of Durness. She is willing to aid Broadford, but the price will be high. The territory will lose considerable amounts of land at minimum, and possibly its sovereignty as well. The Border League requires that its territories hold their own against "routine and usual threats." If the Missus can not demonstrate that Broadford can do this, then Durness march in and conquer her.

Broadford is approximately fifteen miles wide by forty miles long. It is dominated by temperate hills and forest. Most human settlements follow the river.

Broadford was named for Broadford Company, a mercenary regiment paid in land. It was once the Griffon imperial province of Dunkeld before it was emptied by war. Before that, it was the ancient kingdom of Knessex. The old Imperial highway runs through the province. To the west are the Mallaig Badlands, and to the east is the Duchy of Durness. The Barony of Broadford sits along the highway. Both north and south in the valley are numerous freeholds. To the north are the Borderlands. To the northeast is the Darkwood forest, sitting firmly against the Borderlands. To the south is Fey Court of Ballantrae in the forest of Carmarthen.

CLIMATE AND TERRAIN

The climate is seasonal, with cold winters and cool summers. The territory is dominated by several large rivers which they use to float logs downstream. The town lies on the Little Eagle river. The Big Eagle river runs through the Haunted Forest to Ferra Nea.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Terrain is hills and the climate is temperate. The valley is mostly covered in trees, ranging from oaks and elms to pines and firs. Much of the land along the river has been cleared for farmland and grazing land as this is the flattest land in the territory.

Broadford, part of the Border League, was settled by the "Broadford Mercenary Company". The company's Major acts as the ruler of this territory. The Major's usual successor is his senior Lieutennant. If necessary, the company elects its Major from among its officers and sergeants. The Major acts as a Baron over the territory. Currently, the Missus is the Major of the company. The people still call her the "Missus" out of long respect and endearment.

The Major handles the territory wide government, as well as oversees the defenses for the territory. The major appoints a Scout Captain to gather information about the territory, and a sheriff to oversee law enforcement. These people are not necessarily members of the mercenary company.

Forsythia

Forsythia is run by a council of merchants. They handle the day to day issues of the town.

Forsythia originally hired Sir Tennet to oversee the town's volunteer guards and to organize the civilians in time of crisis. With the recent defeat, his authority has been temporarily extended to overseeing the exiting militia and training new militia units. Sir Tennet has drilled the new units well enough to make one acceptable medium company, and two sub-par light companies. The companies are good enough to counter scattered humanoid incursions, but are not good enough to counter a well equipped and organized force in the field. In a pinch, Tennet can raise several hundred lances of able light cavalry from the veterans in the territory.

The town itself was built around an ancient Griffon Imperial watchtower. These dot the imperial road, and were once used for communication. The tower sits on a rise, with the walls encircling the rise. The walls are simple palisades with towers dotting the circumference. Buildings have slate roofs. The town is rather crowded as building outside of town is not safe.

NOTEWORTHY ORGANIZATIONS

Broadford Mercenary Company: This company fought for the Border League. They were paid for their services in land.

Forsythia City Council: The city council is an independent entity that manages the day to day affairs of the town.

RELIGION

The people here worship the Charystan Pantheon.

IMPORTANT NPC's

Flint and Jasper Stonebrother: These two Jura dwarves are the smiths of the town. Flint (Stonebrother 6) specializes in weapons while Jasper (Stonebrother 6) specializes in armor. They maintain the town's armory. They also buy equipment for the town, and have the town's treasury to draw from when they want to buy weapons. They secretly work for their clan in Jura City. Their job is to scout out new mineral deposits. They know that there are interesting things coming out of the surrounding lands, as the goblins and other humanoids know where to find these things. They want to find these deposits for themselves, then claim the resource for their clan, especially the long rumored adamantine mine. Both the Stonebrothers and the Ironmongers want this mine, and discovery of the mine could result in a dwarven clan war.

The smithy doubles as a temple for those who need such services.

Dusty: Dusty is a catkin. He is the engineer for the company. He joined back in Rhakotis when the company worked there. He was trained in alchemy at the great library. He can teach any ritual from first through tenth level. The cat is distinct for his singed fur, safety glasses, and huge leather gloves.

Matuba: Matuba is the closest thing this town has to a professional leather smith. She makes leather clothing, sheaths, saddles, and leather-based armors. The work is not noteworthy, but it is acceptably made.

"The Missus" Forsythia: "The Missus" Forsythia is the mayor of this town. The years are getting to her, but her determined energy keeps her ready for the ordeal. The surrounding peoples and tribes greatly respect her. She came here with her husband, an army Major, her children, and her grandchildren to establish a new town. When her husband was killed recently by bandits, she took up the office of Baroness by popular demand. The Missus is greatly respected by the town.

Scout Captain Hanatha: Hanatha (Half-Giant) is the scout captain for the town. When the sheriff was killed recently by bandits, she took over the sheriff position. Hanatha's steed is a psychotic charger. This horse once belonged to her late husband. (She does not like to speak about her husband, as he was a member of the Psychotic Assembly. There is great prejudice against this organization).

The Amazing Farley: Farley (Half-Elf) is a traveling showman who prefers to use his fortune telling act to seduce women. He rarely uses his actual psionic powers, as use of these powers are painful to him. Hanatha recruited him as a deputy sheriff. He is not too useful in a fight, but his object reading abilities are very helpful to Hanatha's investigations. He was raised by the Psychotic Assembly. He seeks to hide this fact.

Torch and Heather: These two experts raise, train, and sell warhorses. They do not have any warhorses available, but if given a week, they can usually find one for sale. Given two or more weeks, they can locate almost any type of mortal warhorse that you want. If you work for the town, they will bump you up to list for warhorse training. Heather's mother is the sheriff, Hanatha.

Captain Tennet: This is the captain of the town's militia. He is able, if unimaginative.

This mining camp mines and smelts iron. The iron is shipped via wagon to other locales. The charcoal furnace produces wrought iron. Supplying the furnace requires one acre of forest per day. The furnace produces 4,000 tons of iron per year. The forge is run by the Great Dwarven Union's Ironmonger clan.